Ikem masquerade societies were formed in the 1890s by Efik and Efut residents of the port city of Calabar. In contrast to the elite Ekpe society, the ranks of Ikem were open to the descendants of enslaved people and may have included some older women. Explicitly populist in nature, the society organized and performed satirical dramas that conveyed social commentary. This fragment of a multifaced ikem helmet mask from the Igbo-speaking village of Ozu Item, some one hundred miles inland, attests to the reach of this modern tradition. Originally covered with animal hide in the Calabar style, its densely perforated scalp likely once held tufts of hair, porcupine quills, or feathers.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Ikem helmet mask fragment
Artist:Southern Igbo, Ibibio, or Anaang artist
Date:1900–30
Geography:Nigeria, Ozu Item, Cross River region; Nigeria, Ozu Item
Culture:Ibibio or Igbo peoples, Ozu Item group (?)
Medium:Wood, pigment, plant fiber remnants
Dimensions:H. 23 x W. 12 1/2 x D. 7 3/4 in. (58.4 x 31.8 x 19.7 cm)
Classification:Wood-Sculpture
Credit Line:The Michael C. Rockefeller Memorial Collection, Gift of Margaret Plass, 1955
Object Number:1978.412.287
Ikem masquerade society, Ozu Item, Nigeria, by 1937; acquired by Dr. Jack Sargent Harris in Oboko, Nigeria, 1937; Margaret Barton Plass, Philadelphia, by 1955; The Museum of Primitive Art, New York, 1955–78
Toledo Museum of Art. "The African Image: A New New Selection of Tribal Art," February 1, 1959–February 22, 1959.
Museum of Primitive Art. "The World of Primitive Art," July 12, 1966–September 11, 1966.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Art of Oceania, Africa and the Americas from The Museum of Primitive Art," May 10–August 17, 1969.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Sculpture of Black Africa: Nigeria & Cameroon," June 23, 1971–March 19, 1972.
Museum of Primitive Art. "Faces," February 14, 1973–September 9, 1973.
American Federation of Arts. "Primitive Art/Masterworks," January 5, 1975–May 15, 1977.
Seattle Art Museum. "Primitive Art/Masterworks," January 5, 1975–February 16, 1975.
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. "Primitive Art/Masterworks," March 23, 1975–May 4, 1975.
Dallas Museum of Art. "Primitive Art/Masterworks," June 8, 1975–July 20, 1975.
Art Institute of Chicago. "Primitive Art/Masterworks," August 25, 1975–October 10, 1975.
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. "Primitive Art/Masterworks," November 9, 1975–December 21, 1975.
Toledo Museum of Art. "Primitive Art/Masterworks," April 11, 1976–May 25, 1976.
Walker Art Center. "Primitive Art/Masterworks," June 27, 1976–August 8, 1976.
Denver Art Museum. "Primitive Art/Masterworks," September 10, 1976–November 7, 1976.
de Young Museum, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. "Primitive Art/Masterworks," March 12, 1977–May 15, 1977.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Art of Oceania, Africa, and the Americas from the Museum of Primitive Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1969, no. 388.
American Federation of Arts. Primitive Art Masterworks: an exhibition jointly organized by the Museum of Primitive Art and the American Federation of Arts, New York. New York: American Federation of Arts, 1974, no. 79.
Elisofon, Eliot, and William B. Fagg. The Sculpture of Africa. New York: Hacker Art Books, 1978 [1958], p. 143, fig. 187.
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The Met's collection of art of the peoples of sub-Saharan Africa, the Pacific Islands, and North, Central, and South America comprises more than eleven thousand works of art of varied materials and types, representing diverse cultural traditions from as early as 3000 B.C.E. to the present.
